U.S. executions in 2023 were concentrated in the South, group says


A Friday report from the Death Penalty Information Center said 24 people were executed in the United States in 2023. Three death row inmates, including Glynn Simmons, shown here, were exonerated. 

Photo courtesy of the Death Penalty Information Center

Dec. 1 (UPI) -- For the ninth consecutive year, fewer than 30 people were executed in the United States in 2023 and fewer than 50 were sentenced to death as of Friday, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center.

Texas and Florida accounted for more than half of this year's 24 executions. In 2022,18 people were put to death in the United States.

"As has been historically true, prisoners of color were overrepresented among those executed and cases with white victims were more likely to be executed," a statement from the nonprofit center said Friday.

"Nine of the 24 prisoners executed were people of color. The vast majority of crimes for which defendants were executed this year (79%) involved white victims."

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And for the first time, a Gallup poll shows most Americans think the death penalty is administered unfairly, by a margin of 50% to 47%.

A majority of U.S. states, 29, have abolished the death penalty or paused executions by executive order. Three death row prisoners were exonerated this year, according to the center.

"The data show that most Americans no longer believe the death penalty can be imposed fairly," center executive director Robin M. Maher said in a statement.

"That important change can also be seen in the unprecedented show of support for death-sentenced prisoners from conservative lawmakers and elected officials this year, some of whom now oppose use of the death penalty in their state."

Florida had six executions and five new death sentences in 2023.

The center said use of capital punishment is still geographically isolated, with nearly all executions occurring in the South.

Just four other states put people to death in 2023 -- Alabama (2), Missouri (4), Oklahoma (4), and Texas (8).

Seven states sentenced people to death in 2023. They were Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina and Texas.

According to the center, "79% of the people executed this year had at least one of the following impairments: serious mental illness; brain injury, developmental brain damage, or an IQ in the range considered intellectually disabled; and/or chronic serious childhood trauma, neglect and/or abuse."

In a report published Friday, the center looked at capital punishment in Missouri, where four people were executed in 2023. The report said Missouri has a substantial history of racial violence directed at Black people.

"One of the most clear and persistent racial disparities in death sentencing concerns the overrepresentation of white victims among cases resulting in a death sentence," the report said.

"In Missouri, homicides involving white victims are seven times more likely to result in an execution than those with Black victims. ... Statistical analyses have found that broad prosecutorial discretion is one reason for continuing racial disparities in capital sentencing."

The center noted that of all death sentences in Missouri since 1972, 80% involved White victims, even though they are roughly 36% of homicide victims in the state. According to 2020 homicide data, the group said, Missouri had the highest Black homicide victimization rate in the country for the seventh year in a row.

Report: Belief death penalty is applied unfairly shows capital punishment’s growing isolation in US


This undated file photo shows the gurney in the death chamber in Huntsville, Texas. An annual report released Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, on capital punishment says more Americans now believe the death penalty is administered unfairly. 

(Carlos Antonio Rios)/Houston Chronicle via AP, File)

BY JUAN A. LOZANO
December 1, 2023

HOUSTON (AP) — More Americans now believe the death penalty, which is undergoing a yearslong decline of use and support, is being administered unfairly, a finding that is adding to its growing isolation in the U.S., according to an annual report on capital punishment.

But whether the public’s waning support for the death penalty and the declining number of executions and death sentences will ultimately result in the abolition of capital punishment in the U.S. remains uncertain, experts said.

“There are some scholars who are optimistic the death penalty will be totally eradicated pretty soon,” said Eric Berger, a law professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “I think what’s more likely is it’s going to continue to decline. But I think it’s less likely that in the foreseeable future it’ll totally disappear.”

In 2023, there were 24 executions in the U.S., with the final one for the year taking place Thursday in Oklahoma. Additionally, 21 people were sentenced to death in 2023, which was the ninth consecutive year where fewer than 30 people were executed and fewer than 50 people received death sentences, according to a report by the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center.

Only five states — Texas, Florida, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Alabama — conducted executions this year. That was the lowest number in 20 years, said Robin M. Maher, executive director of the nonprofit center, which takes no position on capital punishment but has criticized the way states carry out executions

“That shows the death penalty is again becoming increasingly isolated in its use in the United States,” Maher said.

A Gallup poll from October found 50% of Americans believe capital punishment is applied unfairly, compared to 47% who believe it is fairly implemented, Maher said. This was the highest such number since Gallup first began asking about the fairness of the death penalty’s application in 2000.

Catherine Grosso, a professor with Michigan State University’s College of Law, said the Gallup survey result could be tied in part to more young people and others questioning the U.S. criminal justice system following the 2020 killing of George Floyd by a police officer.

Nearly 200 death row exonerations since 1975, including three in 2023, also have helped changed people’s minds about the fairness of the death penalty, Maher said.

In recent years, various individuals across the country, including conservative legislators, have raised concerns about the death penalty or debated its future, Grosso said.

But in some states including Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma and Texas, the death penalty remains deeply entrenched, Berger said.

Earlier this year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed bills enacting two new death penalty laws. One allows the death penalty in child rape convictions, despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling banning capital punishment in such cases. The other law ends a unanimous jury requirement in death penalty sentencing.

“If you commit a crime that is really, really heinous, you should have the ultimate punishment,” DeSantis said in May, commenting on the death penalty for child rape convictions.

Ongoing difficulties by states in securing supplies of execution drugs have prompted some states to explore new and untested methods of execution or revive previously abandoned ones, according to the center’s report.

Alabama has set a January execution date for what would be the nation’s first attempt to execute an inmate with nitrogen gas. In July, Idaho became the fifth state to authorize executions by firing squad. The last time a U.S. inmate was executed by firing squad was in 2010.

The center’s report said a majority of states, 29, have either abolished the death penalty or paused executions.

Corinna Lain, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law in Virginia, said she thinks the number of states that don’t have the death penalty could easily rise to 40. But a nationwide ban would need action from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Lain and other experts said that’s unlikely to happen as recent actions show the high court is not going to get in the way of states carrying out executions. The center’s report said the Supreme Court granted only one stay of execution out of 34 such requests made since its 2022-23 term.

Texas, the nation’s busiest capital punishment state, has not been immune to the ongoing debate over the death penalty.

Earlier this year, the GOP-led Texas House passed a bill that would eliminate the death penalty in cases involving someone was diagnosed with schizophrenia. The bill ultimately failed as it was never taken up by the Texas Senate.

GOP state Rep. Jeff Leach said in March the bill was not part of a secret effort to do away with the death penalty in Texas.

“I believe that in Texas we need the death penalty,” Leach said. “But I am, as a supporter of the death penalty, against executing people who at the time they commit the offense had a severe mental illness.”

Even in Texas, there can be some change with the death penalty, Berger said.

“But you can’t see the kind of change where you could expect them to just say, ‘Ah, we’re done with capital punishment altogether.’ At least not yet,” Berger said.
___

Follow Juan A. Lozano on X, formerly Twitter: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70

In the US, Black survivors are nearly invisible in the Catholic clergy sexual abuse crisis




Charles Richardson, of Baltimore, wipes his eye while discussing his alleged abuse decades ago by a Catholic priest, in Baltimore on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023. Black victims have largely been invisible in the Catholic sexual abuse crisis. Richardson recently came forward after the state of Maryland removed the civil statute of limitations for child sex abuse victims. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)Read More


Gloria Webster, left, who is retired and lives in Raleigh, N.C., and her daughter Angelique Webster, of Worcester, Mass., an independent filmmaker, stand together for a photograph, Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023, at Angelique’s home, in Worcester, Mass. Black victims have largely been invisible in the Catholic sexual abuse crisis, including Baltimore, where Angelique was abused by their parish priest. Gloria fought hard for justice. The priest was later convicted and defrocked. The family settled with the archdiocese in 1993. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)


Gloria Webster, of Raleigh, N.C., stands on her old street in Baltimore, on Thursday, June 15, 2023. She lived down the block from St Martin, the Catholic church where her daughter was abused decades ago by their parish priest. Black victims have largely been invisible in the Catholic sexual abuse crisis. Gloria fought hard for justice. The priest was later convicted and defrocked. The family settled with the archdiocese in 1993. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)


Angelique Webster, an independent filmmaker, stands for a photograph, Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023, at her home, in Worcester, Mass. Black victims have largely been invisible in the Catholic sexual abuse crisis, including Baltimore, where Angelique was abused by their parish priest. Gloria Webster, Angelique’s mother, fought hard for justice. The priest was later convicted and defrocked. The family settled with the archdiocese in 1993. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)


BY TIFFANY STANLEY AND LEA SKENE
Updated 5:58 AM MST, November 29, 2023

BALTIMORE (AP) — As Charles Richardson gradually lost his eyesight to complications from diabetes, certain childhood memories haunted him even more.

The Catholic priest appeared vividly in his mind’s eye — the one who promised him a spot on a travel basketball team, took him out for burgers and helped him with homework. The one, Richardson alleges, who sexually assaulted him for more than a year.

“I’ve been seeing him a lot lately,” Richardson said during a recent interview, dabbing tears from behind dark glasses.

As a Black middle schooler from northwest Baltimore, Richardson started spending time with the Rev. Henry Zerhusen, a charismatic white cleric. It was the 1970s and Zerhusen’s parish, St. Ambrose, was a fixture in Baltimore’s Park Heights neighborhood, which was then experiencing the effects of white flight and rapidly becoming majority-Black. Lauded as a “super-priest” when he died in 2003, Zerhusen welcomed his church’s racial integration and implemented robust social service programs for struggling families, including Richardson’s.

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For most of his life, Richardson kept the abuse a secret, a common experience for survivors of sexual abuse. But cases of clergy abuse among African Americans are especially underreported, according to experts, who argue the lack of attention adds to the trauma of an already vulnerable population.

Black survivors like Richardson have been nearly invisible in the Catholic Church sexual abuse crisis — even in Baltimore, home to a historic Black Catholic community that plays an integral role in the nation’s oldest archdiocese. The U.S. Catholic Church generally does not publicly track the race or ethnicity of clergy abuse victims. Without that data, the full scope of clergy sex abuse and its effects on communities of color is unknown.

“Persons of color have suffered a long legacy of neglect and marginalization in the Catholic Church,” said the Rev. Bryan Massingale, a Black Catholic priest and Fordham University professor whose research has focused on the issue. “We need to correct the idea that all or most of the victims of this abuse have been white and male.”

Earlier this year, the Maryland Attorney General’s Office released a scathing report on child sex abuse within the Archdiocese of Baltimore dating back several decades. The report documents more than 600 abuse cases but leaves out any context about race. There are clues, however, in the names of priests and churches listed.

Out of 27 parishes in the archdiocese that have significant Black populations, at least 19 — 70% — previously had priests on staff who have been accused of sexual abuse, according to an Associated Press analysis. For parishes that experienced demographic shifts over time, these abusers were in residence in the years after Black membership increased and white membership declined.

Among those affected is St. Francis Xavier, one of the nation’s oldest Black Catholic churches, where four abusive priests have served over the decades. The parish’s first Black pastor, the late Rev. Carl Fisher, has been accused of abusing several children at St. Veronica’s, another majority-Black parish he served.

In 2013, decades after Richardson’s alleged abuse, Zerhusen faced accusations from another victim — the grandson of a woman who worked at St. Ambrose for 40 years. In response to that claim, two monsignors called Zerhusen “saintly” and unlikely to abuse, according to the attorney general’s report. The archdiocese ultimately settled with the victim for $32,500 and added Zerhusen to their list of credibly accused priests this past July.

Christian Kendzierski, a spokesperson for the archdiocese, said he was just learning of Richardson’s allegation about the late Zerhusen when contacted by the AP and didn’t have information on it.

Zerhusen worked with other abusive priests, including at St. Ambrose. At two more parishes, including after he was elevated to monsignor, he supervised four other priests later credibly accused of child sex abuse.

The last time Zerhusen abused him, Richardson said, he jumped out a stained-glass window to escape the church’s sanctuary, landing on the ground outside. In Richardson’s account, Zerhusen accompanied him to the hospital and told a doctor he landed on a Coke bottle playing football. Richardson still bears scars on his elbow that he attributes to the fall.

But the emotional scars have never healed. Until recently, he had never told his wife or adult daughters about the assaults.

Richardson dropped out of high school not long after the abuse. An aspiring professional tennis player, his game suffered, and he later became a car salesman. He still sometimes struggles when interacting with other men, especially in medical settings and situations involving physical contact.

As Black men, “we have a reputation we have to carry with us, a façade,” he said. “Something like this is one of the worst things — to say you have been raped or touched by another man.”

Not long after release of the attorney general’s report, Maryland lawmakers voted to repeal the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse victims to sue. At age 58, Richardson retained a lawyer and decided to go public.

Ray Kelly, a lifelong Catholic and chair of the pastoral council at St. Peter Claver, a Black parish in west Baltimore, said the archdiocese has repeatedly failed to address racial disparities, a trend that extends far beyond the clergy abuse crisis.

In response to the 2020 racial justice protests, Kelly helped lead a working group convened by the Baltimore archbishop that focused on combating racism, but he said the archdiocese took little action after receiving the group’s recommendations.

He pointed to the Catholic Church’s long history of treating African Americans like second-class citizens — beginning in Baltimore with the founding of the Oblate Sisters of Providence in 1829, when four Black women started their own religious order after being rejected by an existing sisterhood. One of the founders, Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange, is now being considered for sainthood.

The aftermath of the Civil War brought another new religious order to Baltimore: The Josephites were founded to minister to recently freed slaves. But despite their mission, for decades they largely did not admit Black men into the priesthood. The archdiocese now lists at least five Josephite priests as credibly accused of abuse.

“The Americanized Catholic Church still sees the Black population as a perpetual charity case, so to speak,” Kelly said. “And the predators are going to go where the prey is — Black communities relying on the church for support.”

Kendzierski, the archdiocese spokesperson, said its leaders have taken significant steps to address the church’s legacy of racism. He said the archdiocese’s Office of Black Catholic Ministry works to “lift up our Catholic social teaching related to the dignity of the human person and ensure worship is inclusive of the scope of the Catholic culture.”

In some cases, the church’s charity programs allowed abusers to reach African Americans who were not regulars at Mass. Richardson, for instance, was raised Baptist, but his family still relied on the local Catholic church for food, home repairs and other resources — a scenario that experts say is surprisingly common.

Abuse also came from within the Black community. Among the alleged perpetrators were some of the archdiocese’s few Black Catholic leaders.

When he was ordained in 1974, Maurice Blackwell was a celebrated rarity: a homegrown Black priest from west Baltimore. In the years since, he has been accused of sexually abusing at least 10 boys under 18, most at majority-Black parishes he pastored.

Darrell Carter alleges he was one of Blackwell’s victims. Now 63, he recently decided to sue under the new state law, which went into effect Oct. 1.

Carter’s father took him to Mass as a child. Before dying of cancer, he told Carter to find a Catholic church if he was ever in need: “They will help you.”

Money was scarce at home, and Carter often went hungry. As a teen, he visited St. Bernardine and later St. Edward — Black Catholic churches helmed by Blackwell — looking for odd jobs like shoveling snow to earn money. Instead, he said, Blackwell sexually abused him for four years and paid him $25 each time. Carter said Blackwell brandished a gun and threatened to kill him if he told anyone.

Carter said he reported the abuse to the archdiocese several years later, hoping to have Blackwell removed from ministry, but nothing came of it. The archdiocese said it received a report of Carter’s abuse in 2019 and reported it to law enforcement. Blackwell didn’t respond to recent messages seeking comment.

Carter went on to have a family and a welding career. He also struggled with alcoholism, suicidal thoughts and maintaining stable housing. Of the sexual abuse, he said, “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about it.”

Carter’s attorney, Joanne Suder, who also represents Richardson and many other clergy abuse victims in Baltimore, said it’s common for people to wait decades before disclosing their abuse. She said that’s often the case even as they experience its debilitating impacts, including struggles with mental health and addiction.

In 2002, another of Blackwell’s victims — a young Black man named Dontee Stokes — showed up at the priest’s Baltimore rowhome, pulled out a handgun and shot Blackwell after he refused to apologize. The shooting became a defining event in Baltimore’s mishandling of clergy sex abuse claims, just as the scope of the crisis was breaking open in Boston.

Blackwell survived, and Stokes was later acquitted of attempted murder. He served 18 months of home detention for gun charges.

Stokes had reported the abuse nearly a decade before the shooting, but police never filed charges. Although the archdiocese found the claims credible, Cardinal William Keeler, then Baltimore’s archbishop, returned Blackwell to ministry against the advice of an independent review board. A psychiatrist who evaluated Blackwell noted the difficult situation, given his “leadership in the African American community as well as the intensely positive feelings of his parishioners.” Finally in 1998, Blackwell was removed from ministry after another victim came forward.

But it was only after the 2002 shooting that Blackwell was formally laicized and criminally charged. Despite being convicted of three counts of child sexual abuse, he was granted a new trial because of the “improper testimony about possible other victims,” according to the attorney general’s report. Prosecutors ultimately declined to retry him.

“Nobody got any closure,” said another of Blackwell’s victims, who received a settlement from the archdiocese.

The man spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearing being ostracized from his community if he publicly discussed his abuse. The AP generally does not identify sexual abuse victims without their consent. A runaway teen in the mid-1970s, the man ended up living in St. Bernardine’s rectory, where he said Blackwell sexually abused him. He came forward to support Stokes at trial.

For speaking out against Blackwell, the man got angry phone calls from friends and family members. “When you have somebody as popular as him, how can you knock the priest off his throne?” he said.

Blackwell remains popular, according to people in the community.

Gloria Webster also remembers feeling shunned by other Black Catholics.

“It was like I was suing God,” said Webster, who pursued criminal and civil charges on behalf of her daughter, who was sexually assaulted as a teenager. “All my friends turned against me.”

In 1990, Angelique Webster became suicidal, admitting she had been sexually abused for years by her white youth pastor, the Rev. Richard Deakin, starting when she was 13. The family lived down the block from the parish, St. Martin, where Gloria was an active volunteer.

Gloria and Angelique struggled to find other Black survivors: One support group for clergy abuse was filled with older white members. Gloria once called Blackwell for spiritual guidance but said she never heard back. Not long afterward, he was accused of abuse himself.

Then a graduate student in African American studies, Gloria was keenly aware of how gender and race played into the subsequent legal proceedings. She said the archdiocese tried to incorrectly “make it out like I’m this poor drug addict” who didn’t deserve support, but she was determined to fight for her daughter.

At the time, Maryland survivors generally had only a few years after the abuse to file a lawsuit, which meant Angelique navigated the case between multiple psychiatric hospitalizations. “I couldn’t hide from it because it was there all the time,” she said in a recent interview.

Deakin pleaded guilty to second-degree rape and child sex abuse, receiving no jailtime with a 20-year suspended sentence and five years’ probation. He had married by then and later became a licensed social worker at a Veterans Affairs facility in Pennsylvania. Because of his conviction, a state board ordered him to avoid counseling anyone under 21, according to licensing records. He surrendered his license in 2018 at the board’s request, which cited the public release of information about his sexual misconduct. He didn’t respond to a message seeking comment.

In 1993, the Websters settled out of court for $2.7 million, a staggering sum for the archdiocese, where most settlements fall under $100,000.

The settlement, paid in monthly installments, has allowed Angelique to afford ongoing therapy and maintain financial stability. Now married with a child of her own, she made a short documentary several years ago about Gloria’s fight as a Black woman to sue the Catholic Church.

Survivors coming forward now, including Richardson and Carter, will likely receive smaller settlements since the archdiocese recently declared bankruptcy, allowing it to protect its assets more and shift the litigation to bankruptcy court, a less transparent forum.

“I feel like they are escaping responsibility,” Richardson said.

But for his part, Richardson recently found solace in telling his daughter about the abuse: “A great weight has been lifted off my shoulders.”

He’s retired now, but Richardson recalled a moment that stood out during his long career as a car salesman — when another clergy abuse victim walked into his dealership. That was sometime after Stokes had shot Blackwell, and Richardson recognized him from widespread media coverage of the case. Before selling him a car, Richardson told Stokes he was proud of him for fighting back.

But he couldn’t yet say what he really wanted to share: that it happened to him too. Now, he finally can.
___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Routine treatment to preserve donated hearts shows no benefit in recent study

By Dennis Thompson, HealthDay News
HEALTH NEWS
DEC. 1, 2023 /

A routine treatment made no significant difference in the number of hearts successfully transplanted from a group of more than 800 organ donors, according to a new study. Photo by Sasin Tipchai/Pixabay



A technique doctors use to preserve donated organs is actually doing no good, and might even be harming the organs, a new study reports.

Physicians routinely dose deceased organ donors with thyroid hormones, in a bid to preserve heart function and keep the donors' organs healthy and viable.

But thyroid hormone treatment made no significant difference in the number of hearts successfully transplanted from a group of more than 800 organ donors, according to results published in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Further, thyroid hormone was more likely to cause high blood pressure and increased heart rate in the bodies of deceased donors, researchers found.

"We found good evidence that this intervention we've been using for 40 years doesn't work," said researcher Dr. Raj Dhar, a professor of neurology at Washington University in St. Louis. "Our findings tell us we should halt this practice."

Managing deceased donor bodies by administering thyroid hormone is a procedure that's been adopted by more than 70% of organ-procurement organizations and is used on thousands of organ donors each year, researchers said.

But no one has ever rigorously studied whether giving the hormone to donors on life support actually improves the success rate for donations, he said.

Donor patients declared brain dead can provide up to eight organs, if all are in good shape, but it can take up to 72 hours from the time of brain death for a transplant surgery to take place.

During that time, doctors work to keep donors' hearts beating as normally as possible, to preserve the health of the organs.

Despite those efforts, about half of all such hearts deteriorate and are not suitable for transplantation when the time comes, researchers said.

"It's vital that we explore questions like this to ensure we are doing all we can for patients who need organs -- and to ensure that they receive the most benefit possible from the generous people who choose to donate organs," Dhar said in a university news release.

Previous observational studies had suggested that thyroid hormones might increase the viability of a still-beating donor heart. Thyroid hormones influence heartbeat, and levels of the hormone can decline once the brain stops working.

However, some doctors have been concerned that providing IV thyroid hormones to a donor body might increase the risk of fast heart rate and high blood pressure -- potentially damaging the heart and other organs.

For this study, a team across 15 organ-procurement organizations nationwide randomly assigned half of a group of 838 deceased organ donors to receive a synthetic thyroid hormone called levothyroxine. The rest were just given a saline drip.

Just over half of the hearts from each group were suitable for transplantation -- 230 (55%) from the thyroid hormone group and 223 (53%) from the saline placebo group.

Of those, about 97% of the thyroid-treated hearts and 96% of the placebo-treated hearts still worked well for recipients after 30 days.

But doctors also found that high blood pressure and fast heart rate in deceased donors' bodies became less severe or disappeared when thyroid hormone doses were reduced or discontinued, suggesting that thyroid might be causing overstimulation of the hearts.

"It turns out that it doesn't have any benefit and may cause some harm," Dhar said.

After seeing the trial results, several organ-procurement organizations have stopped using thyroid hormone in treatment of organ donors, Dhar noted.

More information

The Mayo Clinic has more about organ donation.

Copyright © 2023 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Persistent brain inflammation from collision sports could have long-term effects

By Ernie Mundell, HealthDay News

Participating in repeated collision sports like football may have a direct link to long-term inflammation in the brain, researchers say. Photo by David Tulis/UPI | License Photo

The repeat head injuries suffered by football players, boxers and other athletes appear to affect brain health long after players have given up their sport.

New research from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore could explain why: The persistence in the brain of inflammation tied to the original injury or injuries.

"The findings show that participating in repeated collision sports like football may have a direct link to long-term inflammation in the brain," study senior author Dr. Jennifer Coughlin said in a university news release.

She's an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Hopkins.

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Key to the new findings is a brain "repair protein," with the unwieldy name of 18 kDa translocator protein -- shortened to TSPO.

Whenever a brain sustains injury, TSPO levels quickly rise as the brain tries to heal. TSPO is closely associated with immune cells in the brain called microglia, Coughlin's group noted.

It was thought that spikes in TSPO were only temporary. However, prior studies revealed that levels of the pro-inflammatory protein can remain elevated for up to 17 years.

In the new study, the Hopkins team examined PET and MRI brain scans of 27 former NFL players, taken between 2018 and early 2023

They used the scans to compare levels of TSPO in the football players' brains to those seen in brain scans of 27 former pro college swimmers -- athletes who would not be expected to have sustained head injuries.

The swimmers and the football players were all male and ranged between 24 and 45 years of age.

Brain levels of TSPO were higher, on average, in scans taken from the football players versus those from the swimmers.

Football players also performed notably worse than swimmers on tests that tracked learning and memory skills.

"These findings are relevant to both collision sport athletes and other populations that suffer from single or reoccurring mild TBIs, including those experienced during military training and repeated head-banging behaviors in children," Coughlin said in a Hopkins news release.

Should treatments to lower brain TSPO be given to older individuals with a history of head injury? Probably not, the researchers cautioned.

"Since TSPO is associated with [brain] repair, we don't recommend the use of drugs or other interventions at this time," Coughlin explained. "Instead, we will continue to monitor TSPO levels through more research, in order to test for sign of resolution of the injury with more time away from the game."

Following more research, it might be possible to find treatments that can safely reduce long-term inflammation in the brain, the researchers said.

With that in mind, Coughlin's group plans to track TSPO levels in the brains of former NFL athletes over time, seeing which brains heal and which do not. That could give clues to new treatments or guidelines that would encourage long-term healing.

The findings were published recently in the journal JAMA Network Open.

More information

There's more on the health impact of sports-related concussion at the University of Michigan.

Copyright © 2023 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

NASA shuttle astronaut, scientist Mary Cleave remembered as 'trailblazer'

NASA is remembering astronaut and scientist Dr. Mary Cleave, who became NASA's first woman associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. She died Nov. 27. Photo courtesy of NASA

Nov. 30 (UPI) -- NASA on Thursday paid tribute to retired astronaut Mary Cleave, the first woman associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, who died Nov. 27 at 76.

Cleave, a veteran of two NASA spaceflights, became an astronaut in 1980.

"I'm sad we've lost trailblazer Dr. Mary Cleave, shuttle astronaut, veteran of two spaceflights, and first woman to lead the Science Mission Directorate as associate administrator," said NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana in a statement. "Mary was a force of nature with a passion for science, exploration and caring for our home planet. She will be missed."

Her first mission was Nov. 26, 1985, aboard the space shuttle Atlantis for deployment of communications satellites and two six-hour spacewalks.

Cleave operated the Continuous Flow Electrophoresis experiment for McDonnell Douglas on that mission.

Cleave's second mission, also on the Atlantis, was a four-day flight in May 1989 to deploy the Magellan Venus exploration spacecraft. It was the first planetary probe to be launched fro ma space shuttle, according to NASA.

Magellan was successful, mapping over 95% of the surface of Venus.

Beginning in 1991 Cleave worked in NASA's Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes as the project manager for SeaWiFS (Sea-viewing, Wide-Field-of-view-Sensor). That was a color sensor for the ocean that monitored global vegetation.

NASA said in a statement that from Aug. 2005 to Feb. 2007, Cleave "guided an array of research and scientific exploration programs for planet Earth, space weather, the solar system, and the universe" as associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

In Dec. 2005, NASA's Stardust interstellar mission returned to Earth after a 3 billion mile journey to study comets and the origins of the solar system.

Cleave said at the time, "Comets are some of the most informative occupants of the solar system," said Mary Cleave, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "The more we can learn from science exploration missions like Stardust, the more we can prepare for human exploration to the moon, Mars and beyond."

During her career she was awarded two NASA Space Flight medals; two NASA Exceptional Service medals; a NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal; NASA Engineer of the Year; and an American Astronautical Society Flight Achievement Award.

Cleave retired in February 2007.

Russian Progress 86 spacecraft lifts off with supplies for ISS


A Russian Progress spacecraft took off from Kazakhstan carrying supplies for the International Space Station Friday, according to NASA. 

Photo Courtesy of NASA

Dec. 1 (UPI) -- A Russian rocket carrying supplies for the International Space Station took off Friday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The Progress 86 spacecraft lifted off at about 4:25 a.m. EST Friday.

The Progress is an uncrewed spacecraft based on the design of the crewed Soyuz spacecraft that frequently carries crew to the ISS.

Unlike Soyuz spacecraft, which are designed to survive re-entry and return their crew safely to Earth, the Progress spacecraft is intended to mostly burn up on re-entry.

"The resupply ship reached preliminary orbit and deployed its solar arrays and navigational antennas as planned on its way to meet up with the orbiting laboratory and its Expedition 70 crew members," NASA said in a press release Friday.

According to NASA, the Progress 86 "will deliver almost three tons of food, fuel and supplies."

The spacecraft is scheduled to dock with at the International Space Station's Poisk module at 6:14 a.m. EST on Sunday.

NASA coverage of the docking will begin at about 5 a.m. Sunday.

A previous Russian supply spacecraft, Progress 84/MS-23 undocked from the ISS on Wednesday and reentered the atmosphere where it burned up.

Firearm suicide rates up 11% since 2019, CDC says
In 2022, non-Hispanic white Americans had highest overall firearm suicide rate with 11.1 per 100,000

Suicide rates have increased 11% since 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which examined data from between 2019 and 2021, along with preliminary data from 2022. 

Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Suicides by firearm have increased 11% since 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Suicide, including firearm suicide, remains a substantial public health concern in the United States," the CDC said in a press release Thursday.

Data from between 2019 and 2021 was analyzed, along with preliminary data from 2022.

The CDC found that for the overall U.S. population, "firearm suicide rates increased approximately 11% from 7.3 per 100,000 during 2019 to 8.1 during 2022."

The CDC said the increase is the largest it has observed since it kept keeping data on suicides in 1968.

According to the CDC, suicide rates have increased among all ethnic and racial groups but the increases vary drastically.

Non-Hispanic white Americans experienced the highest overall firearm suicide rate with 11.1 per 100,000 in 2022, up from 10.2 in 2019.

American Indians experienced the most drastic increase of 66%, with 10.6 firearm suicides per 100,000 people in 2022 up from 6.4 per 100,000 people in 2019.

Firearm suicides among Black Americans increased 42% between 2019 and 2022, while suicides among Hispanic Americans increased 28% during the same time period.

If you or someone you know is suicidal, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.

Russia's high court bans 'international LGBT public movement'

U.N. criticizes move as justices label gay rights as 'extremist'

RUSSIA'S WAR ON HUMAN RIGHTS

Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Russia's highest court has ruled that "the international LGBT public movement," is an extremist organization and is, therefore, prohibited.

Earlier this month, the Russian Justice Ministry filed a suit asking the court to make the declaration.

The Justice Ministry said that what it describes as "the international LGBT movement," incites "social and religious discord."

The court said their ruling was to "sustain the claim by the Justice Ministry to recognize the LGBT movement as extremist."

Volker Turk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, denounced the ruling.

"This decision exposes human rights defenders and anyone standing up for the human rights of LGBT people to being labeled as 'extremist' -- a term that has serious social and criminal ramifications in Russia," Turk said as he demanded the immediate repeal of laws targeting the LGBTQ community.

"I call on Russian authorities to repeal, immediately, laws that place improper restrictions on the work of human rights defenders or that discriminate against LGBT people," Turk said. "The law must uphold and defend the principals of equality and non-discrimination."

Human rights NGOs also denounced the ruling and said its vague language could be used to persecute dissent.

"Russian authorities have long misused Russia's broad and vague anti-extremism legislation to prosecute peaceful critics," Human Rights Watch said in a press release Thursday.

 

Police raid Moscow gay bars after a Supreme Court ruling labeled LGBTQ+ movement ‘extremist’

FILE - A gay rights activist stands with a rainbow flag, in front of journalists, during a protesting picket at Dvortsovaya (Palace) Square in St.Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2015. Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, effectively outlawed LGBTQ+ activism, in the most drastic step against advocates of gay, lesbian and transgender rights in the increasingly conservative country. (AP Photo, File)

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
 December 2, 2023

Russian security forces raided gay clubs and bars across Moscow Friday night, less than 48 hours after the country’s top court banned what it called the “global LGBTQ+ movement” as an extremist organization.

Police searched venues across the Russian capital, including a nightclub, a male sauna, and a bar that hosted LGBTQ+ parties, under the pretext of a drug raid, local media reported.

Eyewitnesses told journalists that clubgoers’ documents were checked and photographed by the security services. They also said that managers had been able to warn patrons before police arrived.
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The raids follow a decision by Russia’s Supreme Court to label the country’s LGBTQ+ “movement” as an extremist organization.

The ruling, which was made in response to a lawsuit filed by the Justice Ministry, is the latest step in a decadelong crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights under President Vladimir Putin, who has emphasized “traditional family values” during his 24 years in power.

Activists have noted the lawsuit was lodged against a movement that is not an official entity, and that under its broad and vague definition authorities could crack down on any individuals or groups deemed to be part of it.

Several LGBTQ+ venues have already closed following the decision, including St. Petersburg’s gay club Central Station. It wrote on social media Friday that the owner would no longer allow the bar to operate with the law in effect.

Max Olenichev, a human rights lawyer who works with the Russian LGBTQ+ community, told The Associated Press before the ruling that it effectively bans organized activity to defend the rights of LGBTQ+ people.

“In practice, it could happen that the Russian authorities, with this court ruling in hand, will enforce (the ruling) against LGBTQ+ initiatives that work in Russia, considering them a part of this civic movement,” Olenichev said.

Before the ruling, leading Russian human rights groups had filed a document with the Supreme Court that called the Justice Ministry lawsuit discriminatory and a violation of Russia’s constitution. Some LGBTQ+ activists tried to become a party in the case but were rebuffed by the court.

In 2013, the Kremlin adopted the first legislation restricting LGBTQ+ rights, known as the “gay propaganda” law, banning any public endorsement of “nontraditional sexual relations” among minors. In 2020, constitutional reforms pushed through by Putin to extend his rule by two more terms also included a provision to outlaw same-sex marriage.

After sending troops into Ukraine in 2022, the Kremlin ramped up a campaign against what it called the West’s “degrading” influence. Rights advocates saw it as an attempt to legitimize the war. That same year, a law was passed banning propaganda of “nontraditional sexual relations” among adults, also, effectively outlawing any public endorsement of LGBTQ+ people.

Another law passed this year prohibited gender transitioning procedures and gender-affirming care for transgender people. The legislation prohibited any “medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person,” as well as changing one’s gender in official documents and public records.

Russian authorities reject accusations of LGBTQ+ discrimination. Earlier this month, Russian media quoted Deputy Justice Minister Andrei Loginov as saying that “the rights of LGBT people in Russia are protected” legally. He was presenting a report on human rights in Russia to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, arguing that “restraining public demonstration of nontraditional sexual relationships or preferences is not a form of censure for them.”

The Supreme Court case is classified and it remains unclear how LGBTQ+ activists and symbols will be restricted.

Many people will consider leaving Russia before they become targeted, said Olga Baranova, director of the Moscow Community Center for LGBTQ+ Initiatives.

“It is clear for us that they’re once again making us out as a domestic enemy to shift the focus from all the other problems that are in abundance in Russia,” Baranova told the AP.

Study: Meditation offers real benefits to seniors' psychological well-being


A woman meditates in a park in China where people have long incorporated mediation into their daily lives to balance the pressures of making a living and raising a family. Now, a major randomized, controlled European trial has shown the benefits to psychological well-being that meditation provides are real. 

File photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Meditating for 20 minutes daily for 18 months naturally boosted the psychological well-being of seniors, results from a new randomized controlled trial out Friday show.

The trial involving 130 otherwise healthy French speakers aged 65-84 in Caen, France, improved participants' awareness, connection to others and insight, according to the research conducted by a University College London-led consortium of European Universities and research centers and published in the journal PLOS ONE.

"As the global population ages, it is increasingly crucial to understand how we can support older adults in maintaining and deepening their psychological well-being. In our study, we tested whether long-term meditation training can enhance important dimensions of wellbeing," Marco Schlosser, a University College London psychiatry research fellow and University of Geneva doctoral candidate, said in a news release.

"Our findings suggest that meditation is a promising non-pharmacological approach to support human flourishing in late life."

The trial compared the test group, which followed an 18-month mediation program, 9 months' mindfulness training, a 9-month loving kindness and compassion module via weekly group sessions and a retreat day, with a group that received English lessons and a control group, which did neither.

The study found meditation training did no better than language classes in improving subjects' quality of life or one of the most commonly used measures of psychological well-being -- but the researchers suggest this may be due to limitations of existing tools for monitoring well-being.

The two conventional benchmarks, the researchers said, fail to encompass the qualities and depth of human flourishing that can be by fostered through longer-term meditation training, with the result that awareness, connection and insight benefits go unnoticed.

However, the longest randomized meditation training trial ever conducted did find meditation significantly boosted a global score of well-being dimensions of awareness, connection and insight, with awareness defined as "an undistracted and intimate attentiveness to one's thoughts, feelings and surroundings, which can support a sense of calm and deep satisfaction."

"Connection" relates to emotions including respect, gratitude and kinship that can help improve relationships with others. Insight refers to a self-knowledge and understanding of how thoughts and feelings participate in shaping our perception and how to switch-up negative thoughts about ourselves and the world around

The worse a person's psychological state is, the greater the benefit the therapy confers. Positive outcomes were most significant among test participants reporting the lowest levels of mental well-being at the start of the trial who made the most progress, compared with those who entered the trial with high well-being scores.

The researchers say more research is needed to identify groups that might gain the greatest benefit from mediation training and to refine programs so that they deliver the maximum gains.

"By showing the potential of meditation programs, our findings pave the way for more targeted and effective programs that can help older adults flourish, as we seek to go beyond simply preventing disease or ill-health, and instead take a holistic approach to helping people across the full spectrum of human wellbeing, said senior author Antoine Lutz of the Lyon Neuroscience Research Center at Inserm.

The study was led by the European Union's Horizon 2020-funded Medit-Ageing research group which comprises UCL, Inserm, University of Geneva, Université de Caen Normandy, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, University of Liege, Technische Universitat Dresden and Friedrich Schiller University Jena.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

U.S. fines three Chinese accounting firms $7.9M for violating securities laws


The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Thursday fined three Chinese accounting firms $7.9 million for allegedly violating U,S, securities laws. 

File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License Photo


Dec. 1 (UPI) -- The U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board fined three Chinese firms and four people affiliated with them $7.9 million Thursday for allegedly violating U.S. securities laws and other misconduct.

PwC

 PRICE COOPERS WATERHOUSE ACCOUNTANTS

Public accounting companies PwC China and PwC Hong Kong, were fined $7 million for allowing more than 1,000 people from PwC Hong Kong and hundreds more from PwC China to share answers to tests for mandatory internal training.

Two unauthorized software applications were used to share answers to the tests.

PCAOB said they violated quality control standards related to integrity and personnel management.

PwC China and PwC Hong Kong agreed to pay the fines without admitting or denying the board's findings.

Accounting firm Shandong Haoxin was fined $750,000 and four people associated with it were fined $190,000 for violating securities laws.

Haoxin was also censured and cannot accept new PCAOB accounting clients. An independent monitor was also assigned to improve practices at the company and to ensure future compliance.

PCAOB said the company made false statements on an audit report and violated "independence requirements and/or PCAOB auditing, ethics, and/or quality control rules and standards."

Haoxin and the individuals sanctioned agreed to the penalties without admitting or denying the board's findings.

The sanctioned individuals were Liu Kun. Ma Yao, Sun Penghuan and Zhu Dawei. They are also barred from being "associated persons of a registered public accounting firm."

According to PCAOB, these are the first enforcement settlements with Chinese and Hong Kong companies since the oversight board gained powers to inspect and investigate Chinese firms.

It said they are also the largest civil financial penalties the board has levied against a China-based company.

"The days of China-based firms evading accountability are over. The PCAOB will take action to protect investors on U.S. markets and impose tough sanctions against anyone who violates PCAOB rules and standards, no matter where they are located," said PCAOB Chair Erica Y. Williams in a statement.

AUSTRALIA

PwC should be ‘investigated by AFP’ for tax leak

A recent piece in the Australian Financial Review cites new CLARS Affiliate, Honorary Professor Brent Fisse.

Anyone who thought Australia's organisational culture problems might have come to an end with the 2019 Banking Royal Commission will be sadly disappointed by the escalating PwC international tax scandal.

The excellent recent piece by Tom Burton in the Australian Financial Review (see extract below), cites new CLARS Affiliate, Honorary Professor Brent Fisse, describing the scandal as PwC's 'Enron moment'.

In the full article, Professor Fisse dissects the possible legal offences and penalties (both in Australia and the United States) that could be relevant further down the line. A must read for anyone interested in accountability for flawed organisational culture!

PwC should be ‘investigated by AFP’ for tax leak
17 May 2023

Federal authorities should investigate PwC for possible criminal breaches over its alleged breaches of confidentiality and look at imposing a US-style deferred prosecution agreement on the accounting and consulting giant, according to corporate law expert Brent Fisse. A former partner with Gilbert+Tobin, Mr Fisse has lectured and written extensively about corporate law, responsibility and accountability and warned PwC to take seriously its situation.

PwC has been warned it faces an “Enron” moment, similar to that faced by US accounting giant Arthur Anderson after an accounting scandal engulfed the energy giant.

“PwC wouldn’t want to underestimate what they’re up against,” Mr Fisse said. “We’re all familiar with the Enron moment that sent Arthur Andersen out of business, and this is starting to look a lot like that.”

This article was published on the Monash Lens. Read the original article (Paywall).

Review of PwC tax leaks scandal will not stop conflicts of interest engulfing consulting firms

By business reporter Nassim Khadem
Posted Tue 26 Sep 2023 

The big four accounting firms are facing scrutiny at a Senate inquiry. 

(ABC News: John Gunn; Reuters: Wolfgang Rattay)

Former Telstra CEO Ziggy Switkowski's internal review into PwC following the tax leaks scandal is unlikely to stop further scrutiny of the big four accounting giant and other consulting firms.

The embattled firm had tapped Switkowski to lead an "independent" internal inquiry, but its limited terms of reference mean that important details about the tax leaks scandal aren't the focus of the review.

Switkowski was not specifically asked to investigate the tax leaks or past conduct at the firm, but to instead focus on how PwC could reform its governance structure, the culture of the firm and how leaders were held to account.

PwC knows this is an important PR exercise – and it's one that it's been closely managing.
Ziggy Switkowski has led the internal review into PwC. (Mark Nolan: Getty Images)

The firm was hoping that its review would draw a line in the sand over the damaging revelations that some of its senior partners misused confidential Australian government information to help big multinational companies avoid paying more tax.

Since the scandal erupted, the company's Australian CEO has quit, nine senior partners have been stood down, and the man at the centre of the scandal, Peter Collins, is being investigated by the Australian Federal Police.

In a recent call with former partners, PwC chief executive Kevin Burrowes — who was brought in by PwC's global leadership after the scandal to run the Australian arm — said the international investigation was likely to find a "reasonably clean bill of health". He had also said there were "one or two small instances" where international partners were involved.

PwC Australia's senior management was handed a draft of a report weeks ago but decided to wait for another round of parliamentary hearings into the use of consultants before publicly releasing the review.

But it's unlikely this is the end of an intense probe into PwC and the way other firms manage conflicts of interest

.
Former PwC partner Peter Collins appears before Senate estimates in Canberra.(ABC News)

The review is unlikely to satisfy those calling for much bigger changes, including federal politicians who want to see PwC partners implicated in the scandal jailed.

The PwC controversy has also reignited a global debate about whether accounting firms need to split their lucrative consulting services from their audit functions.

For decades, the big four — Deloitte, PwC, KPMG and EY — have had an inherent conflict of interest whereby they get paid to both advise the nation's largest corporations as well as audit them.

It's no secret that the big four firms help companies minimise tax, and their ability to push the boundaries has been the subject of a previous Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance.

Operating in almost every country, the big four collectively employ more than 1 million people, and most of their revenue growth is from their consulting side.

In 2021, the global consulting services market was valued at between $US700 billion ($1.09 trillion) and $US900 billion (1.4 trillion).
The review is unlikely to satisfy those calling for much bigger changes, including federal politicians who want to see PwC partners implicated in the tax leaks scandal jailed.(AAP: Joel Carrett)

Regulators further probe PwC, questions rise over ATO settlement

The release of the review into PwC comes after an array of investigations and inquiries, including a probe by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), as well as a new round of investigations by the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB), which is the agency that regulates tax agents.

On Tuesday the TPB told a Senate inquiry into consulting services that it was conducting preliminary investigations into several former partners at PwC — beyond the nine who have already left because of the tax scandal.

TPB chairman Peter de Cure told the inquiry his organisation had "started a formal investigation focused on one person" who used to be a partner at PwC.

And the body's chief executive, Michael O'Neill, said the TPB was continuing with preliminary inquiries into other current and former PwC partners and into PwC itself.

The ATO was later probed about how much knowledge former PwC chief executive Luke Sayers knew about the tax leak scandal before leaving the firm.

ATO second commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn said he had personally asked Sayers at two meetings in 2019 and 2020 to investigate the PwC emails obtained by the ATO.
Jeremy Hirschhorn has defended the ATO's use of settlements with big companies, arguing it does not do "sweetheart deals". (AAP Image: Mick Tsikas)

Senator Barbara Pocock, questioning Hirschhorn during the committee hearing, said it was "absolutely implausible" that Sayers had no knowledge of confidentiality breaches.

The ATO was also criticised by Pocock at the inquiry for reaching a settlement with a 50 per cent reduction in penalty for PwC in March 2023.

The settlement came after what the ATO claims were false claims for legal professional privilege over 150 documents that related to tax advice PwC gave to a multinational client.

It also came after the TPB in November made findings that the firm used information provided by Peter Collins in breach of the confidentiality agreement signed with the Treasury to market tax avoidance schemes to PwC clients in 2016 and 2017.

The ATO then concealed the deal with PwC from the TPB, only disclosing it to the Senate Committee on Finance and Public Administration References Committee in late July.

The inquiry heard how Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan tried to prevent the TPB from accessing information on that settlement.
The inquiry heard how Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan tried to prevent the TPB from accessing information on a settlement with a PwC client.(ABC News: Mark Moore)

Evidence was given that Jordan wrote to the TPB saying that its release would damage the trust and confidence that taxpayers had in dealing with the ATO and would threaten tax administration.

"What damage is made to tax administration by revealing the level of discount or payment by a large multinational in its tax avoidance strategies? Where's the damage?" Pocock asked.

Hirschhorn defended the ATO's settlement saying, "Large businesses do not get sweetheart deals," and: "We put rigorous controls around the settlements."

Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and McKinsey Australia fronted the inquiry after initially declining to appear.

McKinsey and BCG, which have entered contracts worth more than $120 million in fees from the federal government in the past two years, were questioned over the level of executive pay for individual government contracts as well as their relationship with senior bureaucrats in winning lucrative contracts.

Pocock said McKinsey was paid $660,000 for one week's worth of work — consulting on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

But at the inquiry, the firm refused to give details on executive salaries, and questions were raised about whether taxpayers were getting good value for money.

On Wednesday the Senate will continue its probe, calling the Department of Finance and KPMG to give evidence.

Greens senator Barbara Pocock has been questioning regulators involved in the PwC tax leaks.(ABC news: Ian Cutmore)

Should big four accounting firms' functions be split?

As more firms front the inquiry, global regulators have already made clear they don't think big four firms can manage conflicts of interest with dual roles of audit and advisory.

Following a string of high-profile accounting scandals, several countries have already slapped restrictions around firms doing consulting work for companies they audit.

In addition, the UK's auditing and accounting regulator, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), in 2020 established a June 2024 deadline for the big four firms to split their audit and consulting businesses to improve corporate reporting.

The FRC noted at the time that between 2012 and 2018 combined consulting and advisory revenue for the big four grew 44 per cent, compared to just 3 per cent growth in their auditing businesses.

It said the move to split the functions would help ensure that audit practices were focused on the "delivery of high-quality audits in the public interest".

Ernst & Young in the UK had toyed with breaking up its audit and consulting functions, but in April the firm called off its plan code-named "Project Everest" after facing resistance from some its partners.

The company said its US executive committee decided not to move forward with the split.

Had it gone through, it would have been the biggest overhaul in the accounting sector since the 2002 collapse of Arthur Andersen, the auditor that was embroiled in the Enron scandal and whose downfall reduced the big five to the big four.
Arthur Andersen was the auditor that was embroiled in the Enron scandal and whose downfall reduced the big five to the big four.(Getty Images)

There are also worries that in Australia, billions of dollars of taxpayers' money continues to be spent annually on consulting services, with little or no accountability.

Former ACCC chairman Allan Fels is among those who are worried and who think the audit and advisory functions of big four firms should be split.

Jason Ward, principal analyst at CICTAR, also thinks that should happen.

He points to one example of where audit and advisory functions could potentially create a conflict of interest, noting that big four firm KPMG does both the audit and consulting work for the head Australian entity DP World — one of the largest port operators in Australia and globally.

According to filing lodged with the corporate regulator, KPMG Australia was paid $455,862 for audit services and additionally paid $394,525 for "income tax compliance/advice" in 2022 by DP World Australia.

"In many countries, it would be against the law to have the same firm providing both audit services and tax advice to corporate clients. This is a clear conflict of interest," Ward says.

"Australia needs to end this practice and catch up to global standards."

It's a message that no doubt will be considered in the months to come as regulators and politicians further probe the big consulting firms.
Posted 26 Sep 2023

South Korea to develop stealth submarines
By Jeong Hyeon-hwan & Kim Tae-gyu, UPI News Korea


A model of a prototype for a stealth submarine developed by South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean is displayed. 

Photo courtesy of Hanwha Ocean

NO APPARENT FORWARD TORPEDO TUBES, THIS IS A NUKE ICBM 

CRUISE MISSLE SUB

SEOUL, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- South Korea, which is still technically at war with North Korea, is planning to develop stealth submarines.

Hanwha Ocean announced Wednesday the shipbuilding giant has signed a contract with the government agency Korea Research Institute for Defense Technology Planning and Advancement toward fulfilling such a goal.

Under the agreement, the company will concentrate on developing stealth technology, aiming to begin production of a prototype submarine by May 2028.

The focus will be on new degaussing devices designed to cut down on the magnetic field generated by submarines so they can better avoid detection

To enhance stealth capabilities, Hanwha Ocean plans to develop customized technologies for component coils, power supplies, control units and magnetic sensor designs.

Hanwha Ocean is the only South Korean company to boast a full range of submarines, with its midsize vessels in commission under Korea's and Indonesia's navies.

"With the submarines being hidden under water, there has been less of an interest in their stealth technology than, for say, fighter jets. We feel, hence, that there is actually a big room for growth," a Hanwha Ocean official told UPI News Korea.

"Our aim is to develop submarines equipped with the world's best stealth technology, an effort that will help us improve our leadership in the global maritime defense market, including the United States and Europe," he said.

In October, the Agency for Defense Development designated the company as the preferred negotiator for developing energy source systems for unmanned submarines, with its mission being the development of multipurpose modular submarines that can be powered by hydrogen fuel cells.